Public safety: Bomb scare at apartments turns out to be false alarm

IMPERIAL BEACH: Residents of an apartment complex on Iris Avenue in Imperial Beach were evacuated yesterday morning while the sheriff's bomb squad investigated what turned out to be a harmless pipe-shaped object on a nearby sidewalk.

A passer-by reported a 4-inch black object on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of Iris Avenue about 7:30 a.m., said sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Duckworth. As a precaution, the department called in the bomb squad, which used a robot to examine the object.

It turned out to be a stack of Chuck E. Cheese game tokens wrapped in black tape, Duckworth said.

The residents were allowed to return to their apartments after about 45 minutes, Duckworth said. –C.M.

Officials say prisoner who
died got drugs from visitor

OTAY MESA: A 22-year-old prisoner died and a teenage girl was arrested Sunday afternoon after authorities said she passed drugs to him and he struggled with prison guards after trying to conceal the narcotics.

The Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as Angel Rodriguez.

Guards at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility saw Rodriguez put something into his mouth during a visit about noon with the 18-year-old girl, identified only as a relative, sheriff's homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos said.

As the officers tried to handcuff the inmate, he fought back and began having medical problems, Brugos said.

Rodriguez was pronounced dead just after 1 p.m.

Prison officials said Rodriguez was serving a sentence for possessing a controlled substance and possessing a firearm. He was sentenced in June 2007 and was scheduled to be paroled in March.

The teen was arrested and booked into jail on charges of bringing illegal narcotics into a state prison.

Results of an autopsy on Rodriguez were pending.
–D.B. and A.M.

Police arrest suspect
in home-invasion robbery

CHULA VISTA: A 21-year-old gang member was arrested yesterday morning after he broke into the home of an elderly blind woman, Chula Vista police said.

The woman called 911 just before 2 a.m. and said she heard someone prowling around her home on Shy Lane, Lt. Daniel Hardman said.

An officer arrived within minutes and arrested a man who was standing beside what turned out to be a stolen vehicle, Hardman said.

The woman's belongings were recovered along with a cell phone stolen from a shopper in an earlier robbery at the Plaza Bonita mall, Hardman said.

The man, from Chula Vista, was booked on suspicion of multiple charges, including residential burglary and auto theft.

Hardman said one of the woman's back windows had been forced open. She was not injured. –D.B.

Three banks are hit by
takeover-style robberies

NORTH COUNTY: Masked gunmen stormed into three banks in Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe and San Marcos in takeover-style robberies yesterday, sheriff's officials said. It wasn't known if the same men were involved.

Shortly after 9:30 a.m., two men with handguns ordered everyone to the floor at Citibank on Lomas Santa Fe Drive near Interstate 5 in Solana Beach. One robber was described as black, 6 feet tall and thin, wearing a white shirt; the other was described as black, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, dressed in black. A getaway driver helped them escape in a dark Nissan Sentra, sheriff's Lt. Anthony Ray said.

At Bank of America on Avenida de Acacias near Paseo Delicias in Rancho Santa Fe, a gunman told customers and employees to lie on the floor. The robber, described as Latino and wearing a white, hooded sweat shirt and white bandanna across his face, demanded money from all the cash drawers about 2:25 p.m., sheriff's Sgt. William Dreyer said.

Four gunmen wearing masks and gloves held up U.S. Bank on South Rancho Santa Fe Road near Grand Avenue in San Marcos about 5:15 p.m., sheriff's Lt. Mike Munsey said. The robbers forced everyone to lie down. Three robbers wore black, hooded sweat shirts and one was in a white, hooded sweat shirt. Witnesses didn't know the race of the robbers, Munsey said. –D.B, A.M. and P.R.

Off-duty police officer
shot and killed in Tijuana

TIJUANA: An off-duty city police officer was killed yesterday in front of his family in the eastern part of the city, officials said.

Carlos Fonseca was driving a Ford Ranger near the intersection of Via Rapida and the free road between Tijuana and Tecate when a group of men opened fire from another vehicle about 1:30 p.m., said a spokesman with the Baja California Attorney General's Office.

Fonseca's wife also was shot and was hospitalized. Their two children were in the rear passenger area of the truck and were not wounded, the spokesman said.

The officer was among four people who authorities said died violently yesterday in Tijuana as of late afternoon. A wave of violence driven by feuding drug cartels has killed hundreds in the city since September. –J.L.J.

Gang member arrested
in balcony shooting

SAN DIEGO: Detectives have arrested a gang member accused of shooting a man on an apartment balcony in Rancho Peñasquitos in an apparent random attack last week, San Diego police said yesterday.

DeAndre Eugene Daniels, 18, was arrested Thursday at a home in Los Angeles.

Police said the victim, Gabriel Butler, was on the upper-floor balcony of his apartment on Rancho Peñasquitos Boulevard just after midnight Dec. 9 when he was approached by a man armed with a rifle. The balcony connects to a communal workout room.

Butler turned around to go back into his apartment and was shot below the left ear, police said. He remained hospitalized yesterday.

Daniels was booked into jail in San Diego on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon and participation in a gang. He was being held on $15,000 bail.

Although investigators said Daniels is a gang member, they said the incident does not appear to be gang-related. –K.D.

Interstate 8 pickup crash
kills elderly passenger

ALPINE: A passenger was killed yesterday when a pickup veered off rain-slick Interstate 8 and rolled about 150 feet down an embankment, ejecting the victim, the California Highway Patrol said.

The driver was headed east when the truck went out of control about 1 p.m. west of Tavern Road, said CHP Officer Brian Pennings. It was raining moderately to heavily at the time, he said.

Pennings said witnesses and evidence indicated the truck had been traveling about 85 mph when it spun out.

The right-rear passenger, an elderly woman, was ejected and died at the scene, Pennings said. Her name had not been released. A preliminary investigation showed she was not wearing a seat belt, he said.

The driver and another passenger suffered minor to moderate injuries, Pennings said. Both had been wearing seat belts, he said.